At the Beginning
by desolate butterfly
Summary: [A Team Seven ficlet] Sakura sees something as a child that will change her path for the rest of her life. Story takes place before the opening of Naruto while characters are 5 to 6 years old.


Title: At the Beginning  
Author: desolate butterfly  
Genre: gen fic  
Characters: NaruSakuSasu, little bit of SasuSaku and ItaSasu  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Sakura sees something that changes her path forever. Story takes place before the opening chapters of _Naruto_ and pre-Uchiha Massacre.

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Sakura was picking flowers for her mother when she saw the boy, blond-haired and dirty and clutching a fistful of apples to his chest, run into the park. He didn't appear to notice her, crouched behind the bushes and tall grass as she was, and she debated on calling out to him.

For one thing, he looked kind of rough. His nose was all bloody. And Sakura didn't want to approach someone who might just tease her and call her "forehead girl" like everyone else.

'_Still, he's bleeding all over everything,'_ she thought. _'Maybe I could just give him a handkerchief or something?'_

Before she got a chance to decide, three more boys burst into the park—older ones. They scrambled after the blond boy with glee and malice on their faces, wielding sticks and small rocks and lobbing one every so often in the younger boy's direction.

One stone glanced off the boy's shoulder, making him stumble and fall. The apples in his hands jarred loose and bounced away across the grass.

"Dammit," the blond cursed, and Sakura gasped out loud. She'd never heard someone that young swear before.

'_Mum would whip me if I ever said _that_ word.'_

By now the three older boys had caught up to the one sprawled on the ground and fanned around him, kicking at his drawn up knees.

"Thief," one of them yelled, brandishing his stick like a sword. "You stole those apples from our store, didn't you?"

The blond boy lashed out ineffectively with a fist, scowling.

"I did not!" he shouted back, with indignation. "The nice lady from the ramen shop gave me these apples, an' you aren't taking them from me."

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it, _Na-ru-to?_"

The syllables of the name were drawn out mockingly and all the boys laughed. Sakura watched the blonde's eyes grow dark and stormy and ducked down under her bush a bit more. Those big boys looked mean and scary, and not at all like they would hesitate to beat up someone younger and smaller than them.

'_You should keep your mouth shut or you'll get into more trouble,'_ she urged the boy silently.

It didn't look like he would be taking her advice. He lunged at the tallest boy, bringing him down with a hard thud and rolling in the dirt, trying to get in as many punches as possible. Immediately, the other two boys pulled the younger one off their fallen comrade and began to administer their own blows, only this time with sticks.

"You little brat," the one who had been tackled said, scowling and brushing the dirt from his pants before giving a vicious kick to the boy's gut. "My mom always said you were a useless drain on this village and now I can see why. A thief and a liar like you doesn't deserve to be a part of Konoha. Why don't you just get out and make everybody happy?"

The blond twisted and grimaced under the blows, obviously hurting. Sakura wanted to cover her eyes but she couldn't move her hands. It was like she was frozen and all she could do was watch.

'_I should do something,'_ she thought. _'But I'm not strong enough to take on those boys. What if they try to hurt me too?'_

"OW, you little shit!"

The blond had apparently clamped his teeth into the arm of one boy and he was making an awful shrieking noise. The other two rained blows on the blonde's head until he let go and spat blood on the ground.

"At least I'm not ugly and stupid like you guys," he yelled, panting harshly and wiping a skinny arm across his mouth.

Sakura felt a twinge of admiration, as well as shame. The boy was brave. Really stupid, but brave.

'_Maybe…if I run really fast to get an adult, they won't chase me and I can help that way.'_

She stood up to put that plan into action, but before she could whirl around in the direction of the street, a dangerous glint caught her eye.

One of the bullies had pulled out a kunai! It flashed in the sunlight and Sakura cried out as the sharp edge was pulled close to the blond, who had crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture.

The kunai merely brushed the dirty fabric of the boy's t-shirt before ricocheting away out of the bully's grasp into the grass with a sharp clang. Sakura's eyes widened as a shuriken plunked into the soft soil near the tallest boy's feet.

"What that…"

All eyes turned to the street, where a boy with dark eyes and hair stood, frowning, another shuriken readied in his small hands.

The newcomer spoke. "What do you think you're doing? It's against the law for a Leaf member to attack another Leaf member. Leave that kid alone!"

'_Oh wow!'_ Sakura thought, her mouth dropping open in a look of awe. _'He's so cool…'_

The tallest boy sneered and took a step towards this new target, hands clenching into fists.

"Another little punk? We know just how to deal with you."

But his friend quickly elbowed him in the ribs, whispering, "Shut up Koji, do you know who that is?"

"OW. No, why?"

"That's Uchiha Itachi's little brother!"

The tallest boy relaxed his stance, looking more critically at the dark-haired boy. "Itachi-sempai's? Huh. That little squirt is the brother of that guy? I don't believe it."

The blond, who seemed to have been forgotten, had picked himself up off the ground and scrambled a few feet away from the mob of boys. He was reaching for his lost apples when another presence made him stiffen and look up. Sakura followed his line of sight and then stiffened as well.

A boy, older than everyone else there, stood in the street. Something about him made Sakura feel like all the air had been pushed out of her lungs and into her stomach.

'_He's dangerous_,' her senses screamed at her. '_Very dangerous._'

"Sasuke, what are you doing over there?"

"Nii-san!" The dark-haired boy's expression lightened into a smile at his older brother's voice. "These guys were attacking that one kid. That's wrong of them, isn't it? I stopped them."

Although one part of Sakura was quivering nervously at the strangely blank expression on Uchiha Itachi's face, another part of her was cataloging the name of his younger brother and repeating it over and over in her head.

'_Sasuke_,' she said to herself. _'What a cool name!'_

In the meantime, Uchiha Itachi had made his way into the park and over to the group of boys, who quaked together with wide-eyes and trembling knees. All traces of bravado fled from their faces when Itachi bent gracefully to retrieve the kunai from the ground.

He flipped it in his palm and then looked at the boys. One of them whimpered in fear. Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"Kunai are not toys," he said, calmly, pocketing the weapon. "Children shouldn't be playing with them. Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The three didn't wait around for a second chance. They took off running so fast that Sakura couldn't help a small giggle. She watched the blond boy gather up his now bruised apples and turn to run in the opposite direction from the other boys.

Itachi's expression remained blank, but his little brother frowned.

"Hey," he called after the blond, "aren't you going to thank us for helping you? That's kind of rude."

The blond turned around a scowled. "Who says I needed your help anyway?" he scoffed, pointing a finger at Sasuke. "You guys just jumped in without asking. I could have taken those idiots with my hands tied."

"What a moron," Sasuke muttered, and Sakura echoed the sentiment in her head. Who in their right mind would be rude to someone like Sasuke-kun?

The blond puffed out his cheeks in outrage and shrieked, "WHO'S THE MORON?! LISTEN UP, I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I WON'T LOSE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE."

Sasuke's cheeks reddened in anger and he opened his mouth to yell back, but before he could, his brother was pressing his thrown shuriken into his palm and walking away.

"Come on, Sasuke," Itachi said. "Mother is expecting us home soon."

The younger Uchiha glared at the other boy, but followed obediently after Itachi, leaving Naruto sticking his tongue out at the pair and making faces before dashing off into the alley by the Police Station.

Flowers abandoned, Sakura emerged from the bushes and walked out to the space where Sasuke's shuriken had made an indent in the dirt. She traced a circle around the spot reverently, cheeks flushed with pleased excitement.

That night, when Papa came home from work she would ask him to enroll her in the Academy.

'_I want to be like him,_' she decided, picturing once again the cool way Sasuke had stood up to those bullies. _'I want to be a ninja like Sasuke-kun.'_

That night, Sakura argued long and hard with her parents about the benefits and risks of being a shinobi. In the end though, she stood her ground, and her father consented to enroll her the next day.

Sakura was going to be a kunoichi.

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fin.

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End file.
